Sustainable Tourism in Kyoto
Sustainable Tourism in Kyoto
Protecting the Tourism Sector with Enhanced Data Management in the COVID-19 Pandemic
Ayaji FUJITA, Chiaki ONITA, Hiep DO Hoang, Norman TAN , Striratna NITYAHAYU
Graduate School of Public Policy
The University of Tokyo
Project Summary
COVID-19 has placed tremendous strain on Kyoto’s tourism sector. Previous concerns about having too many tourists in the city have been replaced by the dire need to preserve the industry. Travel restrictions have virtually reduced the number of international tourists to almost zero, while domestic tourists are reluctant to travel. We propose a set of recommendations to the City of Kyoto which employ digital solutions to protect Kyoto’s tourism sector while keeping in mind the need to improve its sustainability post-pandemic. These recommendations seek to i) enhance contact tracing, ii) improve the compliance of businesses to COVID-19 safety regulations, iii) develop an improved indicator for crowding, and iv) improve policy coherence.
Overall Experience
The GPPN SDG Professional Certificate Programme has been a thoroughly enriching journey. The opportunities to exchange ideas and intellectually spar with not only our fellow group members, but also other passionate public policy students and faculty from other schools as well as practitioners from international organisations, has undoubtedly sharpened our policy analysis skills, introduced us to fresh perspectives, and pushed us to think out of the box.
A significant challenge for us was to select the most salient points out of our work, which spanned half a year, to be included in our five minute presentation and 1000 word report. This has been a useful learning experience for us, given that boardrooms rarely have much time to listen to lengthy proposals and pitches.
Overall, the programme has been rigorous but rewarding, and we hope to see this continue in the subsequent years, especially when COVID-19 restrictions are lifted and travel becomes viable again.
Bios
Norman TAN is a first year MPP student at the Graduate School of Public Policy (GraSPP), The University of Tokyo. Before entering GraSPP, he completed his undergraduate degree in Economics and Management at the University of Oxford. He has diverse policy interests, ranging from security to macro-financial linkages. Upon graduation, he will embark on his career as a public servant in the Government of Singapore.
Striratna NITYAHAYU is a first year MPP student at the Graduate School of Public Policy (GraSPP), The University of Tokyo. Prior to the master’s degree, she studied International Relations at Gadjah Mada University, Indonesia and worked for a year at The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ (MUFG Bank, Ltd.), Jakarta Branch. She is passionate about inequality, development, labor and gender issues. She aspires to work for the United Nations.
Ayaji FUJITA is a second year MPP student at the Graduate School of Public Policy (GraSPP), The University of Tokyo. She holds a BA in Global Studies from International Christian University. She is particularly interested in migration issues and is currently conducting research on foreign workers in Japan. In the future, she would like to utilize her international upbringing to work for an international humanitarian organization.
Chiaki ONITA is a first year MPP student at the Graduate School of Public Policy (GraSPP), The University of Tokyo. She graduated from Soka University of America with a BA in Liberal Arts with Environmental Studies concentration. She is particularly interested in climate change policies and has been engaging in research on community renewable energy projects in Japan and the Asia and Pacific region.
Hiep DO Hoang is a first year master candidate at the Graduate School of Public Policy of University of Tokyo. Hiep holds a bachelor degree in Informatics from Shizuoka University, with a focus on Socio-Information Studies. During his undergraduate years, Hiep has been an active member of the International Student Conference – a student organization based in Japan that aims at researching and solving global issues from the perspective of students. His academic interests include gender study, human rights, international conflict study and he aspires to work for a humanitarian international organization in the future.
